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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674060">Rise and Fall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KhadaVengean/pseuds/KhadaVengean'>KhadaVengean</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ShuAke Week 2k20 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Female Akira Kurusu, Fluff, Kinda?, They need their happy ending, Third Semester (Persona 5)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:01:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,444</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KhadaVengean/pseuds/KhadaVengean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Three times, she loves. Three times, she falls. </p><p>ShuAke Week 2k20 Day 7: Soulmates</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ShuAke Week 2k20 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rise and Fall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>I (Infatuation)</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Goro Akechi was a strange boy. Holding his shoulders high and proud, with venom dripping out of his words and a fake smile on his lips. There was no happiness on his features, no real emotion in his expression. Merely the look of someone who wanted to please others, to uphold this perfect picture of himself in the TV.</p><p> </p><p>Akira wasn’t sure what to say of it. It is the direct opposite of how she has lived her life. Due to her own independence, she managed to get into a year of probation. There were advantages and disadvantages to both styles. Everyone could pick where they wanted to go.</p><p> </p><p>It seemed like her and Akechi seemed to have chosen their paths. Walking into opposite direction. It felt like Akechi was living for others, while she lived only for herself.</p><p> </p><p>And yet-</p><p> </p><p>and yet she couldn’t help that peak of interest in her own mind when they talked and exchanged numbers. Something was off about him. The answer would come easily soon. But not in this moment.</p><p> </p><p>Something started to grow inside her heart.</p><p> </p><p>And Akira Kurusu couldn’t even start to decipher what it exactly was.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>II (Manifestation)</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The moment she stepped into the jazz club, it felt like a reminder when she first stepped into Leblanc. It had no life music like this place, but it gave off the same atmosphere – relaxing, inviting, giving someone the chance to speak and act and be yourself for a moment. Lower your shoulders, lower your head, let the thoughts pass and live in the moment. No fear of the future or the ghosts of the past haunting you, but the present.</p><p> </p><p>Just this moment. Forget everything.</p><p> </p><p>“You know, you’re the first person I brought here.”</p><p> </p><p>The seed that has taken place in her heart has long started growing. The roots have been set, the green already rising and with those words, he managed to make the flower bloom. What was that supposed to mean?</p><p> </p><p>Was she special to him that he took her with her? Was this just a simple coincidence? Did he even think about it for a minute?</p><p> </p><p>“It seems we have a strange connection.”</p><p> </p><p>Akira doesn’t know what so say. Agree? Disagree? Begin another wild discussion over it like they’ve done multiple times already? They have started to integrate this culture into their conversations and who was she to deny them this ritual?</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe we do,” she whispers and she means it.</p><p> </p><p>Akechi looks at her in confusion and at this drink. Slowly, he sips it. He didn’t look at her.</p><p> </p><p>But still. The flower was blooming, its petals brushing her insides with the gentlest care. Bringing a warm and fuzzy feeling into her stomach whenever she thought about him. As soon as the name Goro Akechi popped up in her head, she couldn’t help but smile.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>I (Change)</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Akechi wished to kill her. End her life as leader of the Phantom Thieves.</p><p> </p><p>And Akira’s world shattered. Despite it being an obvious fact, especially since Futaba planted her little bug into his phone and hearing it with his voice, she didn’t want to believe it. Did this voice, who only speak with her in kindness and open interest, someone who took her as she really was, not just Joker or the leader of the Phantom Thieves, just outright stated he wanted to kill her? Was this true?</p><p> </p><p>She wished to speak against it. Maybe the voices were just sounding similar. Maybe they misjudged it. Perhaps Futaba’s bug didn’t work as well as they hoped to.</p><p> </p><p>She wished. She hoped. She clung to any last shred of hope she could possibly gain. Anything to make it possible. To keep this flower inside her heart blooming.</p><p> </p><p>But Futaba shook her head. Morgana looked to the side in guilt. And the rest of the Phantom Thieves lowered their chins. Haru and Ann, who were the ones she could talk about this the most, were devastated.</p><p> </p><p>Akira stood among her friends and realized that the same boy the flower inside her heart was blooming for wanted to kill her. End her life. Pluck the petals from the middle and discard them to the side. Despite its beauty and frailty, he wished to end them.</p><p> </p><p>The flower changed colors. The bright gleam turned to a dull copy.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>II (Defamation)</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The wall fell. It separated them. She was on one, he on the other. Trapped with Shadows and the cognitive version of his own self inside Shido’s- no, his <em>father’s </em><span>palace and there was no way she could break through this wall. She hit against the metal. “Akechi!”</span></p><p> </p><p>“<span>Shut up and listen to what I have to say!,” he shouted from the other side and this time, her heart didn’t clench in fear, but in grief. He sounded so...exhausted, defeated, done with everything. After all the stuff he had been through, after everything that happened, </span><span>it was over. He didn’t care anymore. </span></p><p> </p><p>Akira clutched her heart. The petals were stiffening, cold spreading through her limbs.</p><p> </p><p>“Change Shido’s heart in my stead. Make him repay his crimes!” A huff of breath. Then a cry. “Please!”</p><p> </p><p>The veins inside the petals were slowly growing stiffer. Akira put her hands in her pocket and her heart skipped a beat. The cold was gone and warmth invaded her.</p><p> </p><p>“I will hold onto your glove!,” she screamed from the other side and turned her back. The others followed her.</p><p> </p><p>The veins were starting to flow again. The color remained the same and the roots started to foul.</p><p> </p><p>But it was still standing.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>III (Devastation)</b>
</p><p> </p><p>“<em><span>I refuse to accept a reality concocted by someone else, stuck under their control for the rest of my days.“ </span></em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And what about her? What was she supposed to say? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He had any right. It was his life. His decision. And she was no one to say anything against it. The flower has begun to freeze once more. But Akira felt it. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This time, there was no way out. Live or die. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“<span>So what, that’s the path I chose.”</span></em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There was a feeling of inspiration in her lungs. She wished to tell him it was the right decision. For himself. Not for others. Goro Akechi was a selfish man from the beginning of his quest to salvation to the end. He was selfless at the end it became a trap for his own sanity.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How ironic. He needed to be selfish in order to make things right. This time, their paths were switched. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He lived for himself. While she wished to accept everything and live for others. How quickly things could change without anyone noticing it. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“<span>What do you intend to do?”</span></em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She opened her mouth. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The stem was cut in two. The roots being ripped out of their home. The head falling on the ground. It had its time to bloom.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But in this world, she guessed that some things aren’t for eternity.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“</em>
  <em>
    <span>We’re stopping Maruki.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She wasn’t sure if it was Akechi’s or her own foot trampling the petals to dust.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>
    <span>
      <b>III (Resignation)</b>
    </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He was gone. Just like that. There was no sign of whatsoever. No sign of him, just disappearing and no one ever seen him again. The world became a dull place for her. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The root, stem and petals have withered. Foul things inside this thing called a heart, her soul rotting. The concept of happiness and truth was something she couldn’t even decipher anymore. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>After stopping Maruki, the world turned back to its roots. The stem of reality was slowly growing and she was sure that in a couple of years, all their hard effort would bloom.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But right now, in this moment, Akira Kurusu wasn’t sure what to say. She saved a life, looking at Sumire’s smiling face, and lost a life.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sumire was happy. After everything she has been through. That alone should be an achievement. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The others slowly forgot. Not actively, of course, but passively. The looks that were thrown at her in pity became less over time. She spent her white day with Morgana in the attic instead with someone in a fancy restaurant and a pile of roses.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The day Akira returned to her hometown, she looked at the window from the train. Making a short pause in a station, she suddenly recognized something fleeting from the other side. A simple blink and it was gone. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She recognized herself. Joker. Her year of probation was over and she was a free woman. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe from the things that were planted, another seed could take root. She didn’t know. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Life would change, after all. </span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
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